


Normal

by TheSpace_Dragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Established Relationship, Lots of Angst, M/M, Prompt Fill, Sorry Keith, TW: Blood, carnival settings, flash backs, keith and lance adopted a little girl, not even sorry about this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 14:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10310228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpace_Dragon/pseuds/TheSpace_Dragon
Summary: It takes a lot to be normal again.Prompt: Setting; A carnival, Object; A locket, Random Word/Phrase/Concept; bloody hands





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feelsbender](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelsbender/gifts).



> This is a basic prompt fill. Thank you, Sarah for this, let my angsty feels get out.

Huh, that was interesting. He couldn’t really place it, but he had this strange sense of déjà vu. Lance looked at the locket he had in his hand. He flipped it open, a small picture of the two of them inside. He and Keith looked so happy in this picture, and yet, he couldn’t feel the same thing anymore.

It really wasn’t fair. Maybe it was the screams.

The carnival alive around him. His daughter was off on the rides, screaming with her friends. It had been one of Keith’s requests that he do this for her, Amelia. She was their pride and joy, adopting her out of the system when she was just barely three years old. Now she was eight and as happy as she could be. Well, she could be happier. He could be too, but yeah, that was going to be hard.

He was sitting on a bench, watching people pass by, not a care in the world. Jealousy seeped through him, and he knew that he shouldn’t be feeling this way, but he couldn’t help it. He would give anything to be that happy and carefree. And he knew that Amelia was trying her best, putting up a brave front. Every other night he could still hear her crying. It broke his heart. Yet he couldn’t do anything.

Lance sighed and clicked the locket shut, slipping it back underneath his collar. This was a day to be happy, he couldn’t be the sad and mopey dad while he was out with his daughter and friends. Amelia knew he was trying. They both were, so much, the effort to make everything seem remotely normal now was the hardest thing they had to do. Not when Lance’s mother passed away, not when Shiro moved away, and certainly not when he and Keith had their first fight. Thank god it wasn’t over Amelia; Lance wouldn’t have been able to live with that guilt. The guilt of knowing that one of them hadn’t agreed to adopt her.

He looked over at the Zipper, some crazy contraption of a ride where he heard Amelia's screams of joy and terror mixed together as she was flipped and thrown. Suddenly, just looking over at the ride, Lance was glad that he decided that he was going to sit and watch. The screams haunted him, even if they were filled with delight and not terror, but each one he caught sent a chill down his spine.

Even after all this time, he still couldn’t get that night, it haunted him and Amelia.

**_\----------------------------_ **

_The intruder raised the gun, shouting for them to get down on the ground. Lance was holding Amelia in his arms, she was only seven and had a nightmare beforehand. She had just wanted to be held._

_He was in the kitchen, having given her a glass of warm milk to calm her down. Keith had been standing in the doorway, watching them with fond eyes, his hair a mess and shirt rumpled from sleep. Lance had given him a small smile and used two fingers to shoo him back to bed. But Keith had done the exact opposite and came into the kitchen to give Lance a quick kiss on his cheek and rub Amelia’s back._

_Then the door was slammed open and a gun was pointed at them._

_If Lance hadn’t known Keith as well as he did, he would have missed the way his eyes flashed when he and Lance knelt to the ground. Amelia was shaking in his arms, whimpering, and he was trying his best to keep her calm and quiet. His own nerves were rattled, but he knew that if he showed his own panic then Amelia would pick up on that. And he couldn’t have that, not now._

_Lance held onto his daughter tightly. The gunman waved the firearm between the two of them, aiming between him and Keith. Then he settled on Keith._

_“You, go get the keys to your car.”_

_Keith narrowed his eyes but slowly got up to do as he was told. They had a brilliant red Mustang sitting in their garage, it was Keith’s pride and joy, having rebuilt it from the frame up. There was no way he was going to give it up without a fight._

_But Keith was also the person to bring a knife to a gun fight._

_Keith made a grab for the keys, tossing them to the gunman and pulled a knife out of his coat on the coat rack. The keys were caught as he flicked the knife open and rushed the other man, a roar escaping him._

_The gunman fumbled and shot the gun. Once. Twice. Amelia screamed and covered her ears._

_Keith fell, blood bubbling out of his stomach and his chest._

_The gunman’s eyes were wide with shock and he dropped the gun. It went off again, the bullet embedding itself somewhere in their living room. He dropped the keys with it, turning tail and running out of their home._

_Lance pulled Amelia away and looked her in the eye. “Sweetie, I need you to go call 911 for me and tell them that dad has been shot, ok?” He kept his voice low, but his need for her to follow directions clear. “Can you do that for me?”_

_Amelia nodded, her dark brown eyes shining with tears. Lance gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and shooed her off to the phone. He could trust her to relay their address to the operator._

_As soon as she was off of his lap, he scrambled to Keith. His husband had rolled over to his back, his t-shirt covered in blood. His breathing was wet and heavy, more blood gurgled out of his mouth on each exhale._

_“Oh god, oh god, oh god…” Lance breathed._

_His body went on autopilot, his years as a trauma nurse coming back. He immediately pressed down on Keith’s chest wound. The stomach wound was bleeding just as much, but he had to choose which one to focus on._

_“Keith, dammit, what were you thinking?” he asked._

_Keith’s were heavy-lidded, barely open. Blood was trickling out of the corners of his mouth, bright red against his pale skin._

_He even had the audacity to smirk. “I… couldn’t let… him ge’ to you…an’ Amei…”_

_“No, you shut up, shut up right now, no talking.” Lance sounded angry, for the first time in years he sounded absolutely livid. “Do not start that hero crap with me, Kogane-McClain. Not happening. Just shut up and focus on staying alive.”_

_He was vaguely aware of Amelia talking to the operator in the living room._

_“Lance-”_

_“No, shut up.”_

_“Lance, please-”_

_“Just shut up and focus on breathing, dammit!”_

_“Lance, I’m not going-”_

_“I don’t care, Keith! Just shut up!”_

_Lance couldn’t take it, he shut his eyes, closing them so he wouldn’t have to see blood that he was kneeling in, that leaked out between his fingers, that covered his hands. It was so dark, too rich in color for Lance to stand to look at._

_Keith coughed, more blood spewing from his mouth, thick globs landing on Lance’s arm. “Lance, I’m not…they’re not going to get here…time.”_

_“Don’t talk that way! You’ll be fine, you’re going to be okay-”_

_“I love you.”_

_Lance held back a desperate sob, choking back the sound as best as he could. He opened his eyes to look down at Keith._

_He had a small smile on his face, and his eyes were glassy, but he was still there._

_“Take care of… Amelia… for me…” Keith’s voice was so soft._

_“Don’t worry, I will, I will for you and her.”_

_“Good…” He was fading fast, Lance could see it in the way his breathing was slowing down, how the coughs wracked his body, the tremors nearly dislodging Lance._

_It wasn’t much longer after when Keith sighed, his eyes closed and the coughing stopped and the blood slowed. He heard the paramedics come in and pull him away._

_He remembered hearing them say he was already gone, remembered how Amelia held his hand and cried with him, even though there were bloody from trying – and failing – to save Keith._

_It took a long time for him to feel like his hands were finally clean._

**_\----------------------------_ **

“Dad…?”

“Mr. Amelia’s Dad?”

Lance snapped to attention, realizing that he had lost himself to those memories. Amelia and her friend looked concerned but didn't say anything.

“Sorry, girls. How was the ride?” he asked, plastering a bright smile on his face.

They both grinned back at him, gushing about it. But it wasn’t long that they slowed to a stop.

“Hey, dad? Can we go home?” Amelia asked.

Lance stood, stretched. He held out his hands for both of the girls. “Sure, thing. What do you want for dinner? Pizza?”

They beamed back up at him and began to chatter about whether or not pineapple belonged on pizza. Lance smiled down at them, laughing at their silly and serious argument.

He looked up at the sky, sending a silent prayer to Keith, letting him know that they were doing okay.


	2. Where it Began

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little prologue to how Keith and Lance adopted Amelia and their lives with her while everything was still normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops~

Really, when Lance said he wanted to start a family with Keith, he meant it. It could have been surrogate or adoption. It didn’t matter. He just wanted something, some _one_ , to be theirs. He and Keith have been together for years. Him running a mechanic shop, and Lance giving all his time as a trauma nurse. 

Lance knew Keith had grown out of the foster system, so he knew what it would mean to Keith to adopt a child. But he was leaving it up to Keith to bring it up. He was always touchy about this subject, either running away or changing the subject entirely. Frustrating to no end, but after a few months of trying, Lance finally let it drop.

So when Keith came to him about it, he’s never said yes so fast. Ok, maybe when Keith proposed to him but this was a close second.

They booked an appointment with a social worker, passed ll the qualifications with flying colors and soon they were matched with a little girl.

Amelia.

She was adorable, and Lance fell in love instantly with her. Cooing over her and holding her close. Keith had merely been starstruck, blown away by how well Lance took to this, how good he looked as a father. When he met Keith’s eyes, he knew. It was an easy choice.

They had a grace period to get through, but Amelia took to them like a fish to water. She laughed, she smiled, she loved them with all her heart. And they loved her just as much. Surprisingly, it was Keith who doted on her the most, not in the most practical way. (Lance swore up and down that there was no reason for a three, almost four, year old to have a knife, but that didn’t stop Keith.) Even if Lance was the loud on of the two of them, he showed his love for Amelia in the small gestures; letting her sit with him as he caught up on some of the new techniques and procedures in the medical field, asking him questions every once and awhile and listening intently while he explained.

It was a year later when Lance decided to be a stay at home father for Amelia. Between Keith working full time at his shop and the business starting to pick up, and Lance literally spending more than forty hours at the hospital, something had to give. They could afford to hire a full-time sitter for Amelia, but it was hard to keep telling her that they were tired and it was time for bed when they came home. Or when Lance had to work a night shift, leaving at 9pm and returning to sleep all day, not letting anyone bother him till he’s had at least a solid five hours of sleep before dinner. Keith was the only one with a regular schedule, and they made enough to have one of them stay home, college bill paid off, no car payment since Keith built his Mustang and Lance was running an used car he got in college. One of them staying home was doable, they could make it work.

So, Lance stayed home, taking care of Amelia, teaching her how to read and write. Of course, he was doing so with medical textbooks and car manuals, but it was what they had. Amelia didn’t care, she enjoyed staring at the diagrams and sounding out the complex words as she read. Somehow she understood it all, either she was incredibly smart or Lance should have been a teacher, not a trauma nurse.

Everything settled into a routine, soon enough they enrolled Amelia in kindergarten. On the first day of school, Lance cried at having to send her off to school, Keith’s arm around his waist as he tried to put on a brave face for their little girl.

Again, everything settled into a routine. Lance grew bored of staying home all day, but Keith convinced him to work some hours at the shop as a receptionist. Just to get him out of the house, because honestly, the house can only be cleaned so many times. Lance was still there when Amelia came home from school, and Keith coming home a few hours later.

It went on for years like this. It was the best years of their lives, everything running like clockwork. It was their new normal.

Then Amelia started having nightmares, requiring Lance or Keith to hold her close, let her sip on a warm glass of milk before putting her back to bed roughly an hour later.

She was seven and they’ve had her in their little family for four, almost five years now.

But one night, it took longer for her to calm down, more holding her. Even Keith came to take her.

It seemed normal enough, a nightmare was a nightmare, but then the door was kicked in, and the three of them were staring down the barrel of a gun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scream at me here: [thespace-dragon](http://thespace-dragon.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading~
> 
> Scream at me here: [thespace-dragon](http://thespace-dragon.tumblr.com/)


End file.
